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Attitude counts: engaging with rice farmers in West Africa

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Document
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Publication date
16/08/2011
Number of Pages
17
Language:
English
Type of Publication:
Articles & Journals
Focus Region:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Focus Topic:
Capacity Development
Type of Risk:
Biological & environmental
Managerial & operational
Type of Risk Managment Option:
Risk reduction/mitigation
Commodity:
Crops
Author
Paul Van Mele, Jeffery W. Bentley, Rosaline Maiga Dacko, Kalifa Yattara, George K. Acheampong
Organization
Development in Practice

An international project called PADS promoted participatory learning and action research with inland valley rainfed rice farmers in West Africa. All countries received the same training, similar funding, and the same leadership. Although the staff in Ghana were conscientious and gave much training to the farmer-beneficiaries, the Mali staff explicitly encouraged farmers to experiment. Farmers in Mali responded to this favourable attitude by experimenting more than those in Ghana, and in qualitatively more interesting ways. Long-term engagement with grassroots organisations may be as conducive to changing public servants’ attitudes as the actual participatory approach promoted on the ground.